OKLAHOMA CITY – The International Pentecostal Holiness Church has named Mr. Charles Henry Johnson the 2008 National Children’s Pastor of the Year.  Johnson has served as the children’s pastor of  Springs of Praise World Outreach Center in Crystal Springs, MS for 33 years.

Johnson has taught three generations of families in children’s church.  During his 33 years as a children’s pastor, he has never received or asked for a salary.  

“It is an amazing feat to have filled this position for so many years and still be able to maintain a fresh new approach to the children’s ministry,” said Rev. Darrel Blankenship, senior pastor of Springs of Praise. “This man certainly deserves any accolades that our denomination could give him.”

Johnson moved to the Crystal Springs area in 1975 and soon began working in children’s ministry.  He provides training opportunities for children’s church volunteers throughout the year, including a trip to Willie George Ministries in Tulsa, Okla.

Johnson is also trained in puppetry and is a self- taught illusionist.  He incorporates magic tricks and puppets into his weekly lessons.

“What stands out to me is that his passion never fades,” said Sylvia Langford, who attends Springs of Praise.  “Sunday after Sunday, month after month, year after year he continues to be passionate about teaching our children the word of God.” 

The church honored Johnson with “Charles Johnson Day” on Oct. 26.  Ms. Elaine Wood, the IPHC national children’s director, presented Johnson with a $1000 check and an award.  The church also gave Johnson a $1000 matching check to thank him for his many years of selfless service.

On graduation day, we all promise to stay in touch.  But all too often, phone calls, letters, and emails fall by the wayside as real life sinks in.  We find jobs in new towns, get married, buy a house, and raise a family.  There is simply not enough time to stay in touch with old friends. 

Brianne Shores graduated from Emmanuel College in 1997, and she had the same experience.  After 10 years of trying unsuccessfully to keep up with her friends, she decided to do something about it.  Brianne found a new customized social networking site called NING.  It allowed her to set up a site for EC alumni, friends, and professors to reconnect while sharing photos and memories.  Although the site is not officially supported by Emmanuel College, it has been a hit.  To date, over individuals have joined, including current EC President Dr. Michael Stewart! 

Brianne recently shared her story - and the story of the new social networking site - with me.  Here's what she had to say:

I started at Emmanuel in the fall of 1992 and graduated with a B.S. in History and a minor in Communications in the Spring of 1997.  During my last two years at Emmanuel, I was an admissions counselor and loved promoting the school.  It is always an easy job promoting something you believe in.   After my husband graduated from Emmanuel, we moved to Birmingham, Alabama.  I started working for Infinity Property and Casualty.  I will celebrate my 10th year anniversary in August.  I just recently took on a new position as an Internal Auditor.  Before this new change, I was a Special Investigator. 

For several years now, I felt there was a need to connect Emmanuel alumni and friends on a regular basis.  I had seen sites like Classmates.com, MySpace and Facebook but they were not just for Emmanuel College and some even charged a fee to be a member.  Of course like most ideas, a thought is about as far as it went until my brother-in-law showed me a site for his alum mater here in Alabama.  It looked like a great solution to keeping in touch with old friends that live all over the world.  A site just for members that attended that particular school. His site became the model for the Emmanuel College site.In the end of March 2008, I put the site together and crossed my fingers that it would go well. 

Less than 4 months later, we have over 500 members that span six decades, 40 different states and 13 countries all sharing memories from their time at Emmanuel.  There are over 3000 pictures, videos, blogs, and forums.  It has been so much fun reconnecting with old friends and finding out about all of the amazing people that have this great school in common.

After graduation, you get busy with life, raising your family and working on your career and ministry.  You sometimes forget how much you truly miss your years at Emmanuel.  I feel this site help bring back those memories, connect old friends and help make new friends.  There are endless possibilities for this site and I would like to expand to provide monthly articles showcasing unique alumni and articles on current and past faculty members.  

Here is what current  users are saying about the site:

• As news of this site spreads, I've had more and more opportunities to re-connect with old friends. I didn't realize just how many EC friends I'd lost touch with as life became busier and busier. I'm so thankful that Brianne created this site for all of us to enjoy! - Dana Evatt Sloan
• I love this web-site! Connecting with old friends is absolutely wonderful.
  The friendships that I made at EC are incredible. Reconnecting with old friends reminds me of a time when life was not so busy and God was at the center of all I did. At EC, choosing to serve God was easy. We prayed before Math, English, and even Economics classes. We sang about Him and worshipped Him each day and our week-ends were consumed with ministry. Twenty years later, God is still the important center of my life, it is just a little harder to make that choice with busy lives. We have more worries, responsibilities, jobs, and three times the laundry! But this reconnection and memoreis help me to realize that the God of my past is also my hope in years to come and that hope makes the choice easy again. - Sabrina Buchanan McCall
• I'm so excited that this site is here! I've reconnected with friends I hadn't been able to find or communicate with in nearly 20 years! I never expected to lose touch with my EC friends, but sadly, those sorts of things happen. Months turn into years, and the older we get, the years fly by even faster. I'm so glad you created this site!!! Thank you a million times! - Susan Guest Childers

 If you want to reconnect with EC friends and professors, click here.

Link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vyouth1708jul17,0,7072423.story

Youth Quest 2008

Christian fest Youth Quest 2008 features concerts, contests in Daytona Beach

Linda S. Humphrey | Special To The Sentinel
July 17, 2008

About 2,000 teenagers and youth leaders are headed to Daytona Beach for a four-day conference and festival called Youth Quest 2008.

The gathering, which starts Monday, is sponsored by International Pentecostal Holiness Church, based in Bethany, Okla.

It includes Bible and talent competitions, ministry and leadership training, community-outreach service, and two events that will be open to the public, said Talmadge Gardner, executive director of church education ministries.

Christian recording artists DecembeRadio and 33 Miles will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets cost $15. Bill Wilson, founder of Metro Ministries, will speak at a meeting that begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free. Both will be at the Ocean Center, 101 N. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach.

"Bill Wilson reaches out to 23,000 children each week through his Sidewalk Sunday School program in New York City. We are happy to have him as our speaker on Thursday," Gardner said.

Youth Quest took place in Daytona in 2000, Gardner said, and the organization is glad to return.

"Those attending are pretty much in two age groups: 12 to 15, and 15 to 19. They come from all over the United States, with the largest concentration from the Southeast coast," he said.

Geordan Kanelopoulos, 18, of Oklahoma City said this is his fifth Youth Quest gathering.

"I like competing in the talent quest -- and winning occasionally -- and having free time to hang out at the beach and get a little surfing in," he said. "But aside from all of those really fun things, the spiritual growth that I have gained through Youth Quest has been amazing."

Charles Boyd, national youth ministries director for the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, urged local youth pastors to attend the concert Wednesday and the speech Thursday.

"DecembeRadio's guitar-driven sound has been compared to Aerosmith and The Black Crowes. The band's self-titled 2006 album was nominated for a Grammy and also won the 2007 Dove Award for rock album of the year," Boyd said.

The other band, 33 Miles, is a new contemporary Christian group from Tennessee.

Gardner said one day will be filled with youth going into the city for a service project to help businesses with cleaning and office work.

"They will be going in and doing what they can for that day," said Gardner. "We will also be handing out water bottles with a message on the label and an invitation to the Thursday evening service."

For concert ticket information, call 1-866-263-1623.

For other information, contact Gardner at tgardner@iphc.org or call 405-787-7110, Ext. 3108.

Rev. Gary Burd, director of Mission: M25, is riding his motorcycle across America. Gary is part of Run For The Wall, a 10-day trip to honor the veterans of all wars and raise awareness for Prisoners of War and for those Missing in Action. Over 300,000 bikers ride from California to Washington, D.C. to honor and support military personnel.

“We are the only church that is out there,” said Gary. “There are a couple of stops where churches are involved in feeding us but we are the only one that has a daily presence.”

Gary and a team of volunteers bring hydration trailer to the run, which carries about 45,000 pounds of food and water for participants. They also bring 1500 handwritten thank-you cards to hand out to veterans.

Three of the volunteers are Chaplains:

•Bo Pearson, National IPHC Biker Missionary, serves the Missing Man Formation as Chaplain. It is a real honor to touch the lives of those who are hurting after riding for a friend, family member or special person who has been killed or is missing in action.

•John (Ox) Rasmonson serves as Chaplain working from the Hydrations Trailer.

•Wesley Alvarez serves as ride along Chaplain in one of the Platoons.

Gary and his team are only two days into the run, and they already have some amazing stories.
•A man who had flown over 200 missions in wartime was hurting. One of the team members saw him off by himself with his head held low. Shortly after some small talk he said, ‘I need some spiritual help’. Prayer was offered and received and we watched him advance all day long.

•One war veteran was befriended only to find that he needed a personal relationship with Jesus. After a lengthy visit, which began with the identification of this being the team member that was seriously hurt in a wreck last year, there was a prayer to receive Jesus. We sat around the table and rejoiced with the angels in heaven during our devotion time this evening.

Khmelnitsky, a city of 300,000, is located in the western part of Ukraine, 340 km (211 miles) from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. The Dawn of Life church began in 1991; today, it has 1200 members and has planted nine “daughter” churches. The need to reach and train men is a vital task in Ukraine. That is why IPHC Men's Ministries coordinated with Dawn of Life Church to host the first men's conference in the church's 15-year history.

The conference started on February 27 and concluded on March 2. Approximately 200 men attended. Training sessions focused on addressing the needs of men, understanding God's purpose and plans, becoming men of God, marriage and family, sexual purity, and pornography. There were also practical sessions utilizing the method of small groups. On Saturday night, a men's only worship service was held and every man was ministered to individually. It was rewarding to see men broken and open to the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

The two services on Sunday in the mother church were highly charged with the anointing and presence of God. I was honored to share the preaching responsibilities with my oldest son, Reverend Greg Terry. I spoke in the noon service and Greg in the evening. It was exciting to see men stepping up in leadership in both services.

The highlight of the men's conference was the seven men who accepted Jesus Christ and committed their lives to becoming mighty men of God.

Bill C. Terry
Executive Director
IPHC Men's Ministries